首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Caught in a squeeze between the health needs of aging populations on one hand and the financial crisis on the other, governments
Caught in a squeeze between the health needs of aging populations on one hand and the financial crisis on the other, governments
admin
2013-09-26
132
问题
Caught in a squeeze between the health needs of aging populations on one hand and the financial crisis on the other, governments everywhere are looking for ways to slow the growth in health-care spending. Increasingly, they are looking to the generic-drugs(普通药物)industry as a savior. In November Japan’s finance ministry issued a report complaining that the country’s use of generics was less than a third of that in America or Britain. In the same month Canada’s competition watchdog criticized the country’s pharmacies for failing to pass on the savings made possible by the use of generic drugs. That greed, it reckoned, costs taxpayers nearly C$1 billion a year.
Then on November 28th the European Commission issued the preliminary results of its year-long probe into drug giants in the European Union. The report reached a damning, though provisional, conclusion: the drugs firms use a variety of unfair strategies to protect their expensive drugs by delaying the entry of cheaper generic opponents. Though this initial report does not carry the force of law(a final report is due early next year), it has caused much controversy. Neelie Kroes, the EU’s competition commissioner, says she is ready to take legal action if the evidence allows.
One strategy the investigators criticize is the use of the "patent cluster(专利群)". A firm keen to defend its drug due to go off-patent may file dozens or hundreds of new patents, often of dubious merit, to confuse and terrify potential copycats and maintain its monopoly. An unnamed drugs firm once took out 1,300 patents across the EU on a single drug. The report also suggests that out-of-court settlements between makers of patented drugs and generics firms may be a strategy used by the former to delay market entry by the latter.
According to EU officials, such misdeeds have delayed the arrival of generic competition and the accompanying savings. On average, the report estimates, generics arrived seven months after a patented drug lost its protection, though where the drug was a big seller the lag was four months. The report says taxpayers paid about ¢ 3 billion more than they would have had the generics gone on sale immediately.
But hang on a minute. Though many of the charges of bad behavior leveled at the patented-drugs industry by EU investigators may well be true, the report seems to let the generics industry off the hook(钩子)too lightly. After all, if the drugs giants stand accused, in effect, of bribing opponents to delay the launch of cheap generics, shouldn’t the companies that accepted those " bribes" also share the blame?
Which of the following accords with the author’s view?
选项
A、Charges on patented-drug industry are anything but true.
B、Generics industry is a sheer victim in the competition.
C、Only drug giants are to blame.
D、Exclusion of generics industry from taking responsibility is questionable.
答案
D
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/5B27777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
Despitethescandalsoverleakede-mails,thescientificevidenceforglobalwarmingremainsstrong.Thequestion,then,istow
Millionsofyoungpeoplearecreatingblogs.Millionsofothersarcreadingthem.Theword"blog"isashortwayofsayingWeb
Methodsofstudyingvary;whatworks【C1】______forsomestudentsdoesn’tworkatallforothers.Theonlythingyoucandoisex
Methodsofstudyingvary;whatworks【C1】______forsomestudentsdoesn’tworkatallforothers.Theonlythingyoucandoisex
A、She’sunabletoattendthestudysession.B、Shehasseenadoctorrecently.C、She’sconcernedaboutmedicalcare.D、Shementio
A、ItinfluencesthesurfacetemperatureofMars.B、Itprotectslivingbeingsfromharmfulrays.C、Itkeepsaplanetfromoverhea
A、Becauseitprovesthedirecteffectofreductionintelevisionviewing.B、Becauseitshowsthegreatimportanceofphysicalac
A、Itisneededtoadjustthetemperatureofourbodies.B、Itisoursecondneed.C、Weneedittocoverourbodies.D、Weatheris
A、Decidewhichmovietosee.B、Orderhisfoodquickly.C、Gotoalattermovie.D、Gotoadifferentmovie.B男士说不知道现在想吃什么,因为这里的比萨
A、Heisaniceguy.B、Hehasprettyears.C、Heisveryhelpful.D、Heisverytalkative.D
随机试题
如图所示,以下哪种停车行为是正确的?
Whenyou______yourmeal,we’llgotothemoviestogether.
女性,77岁。多年外痔,昨日排便时用力过大,时间较久,便后发生痔核突然肿胀,疼痛难忍,坐卧不安。拟进一步检查取何种体位
患者,男性,28岁。8年来站立或腹压增高时反复出现右腹股沟肿物,平卧安静时肿块明显缩小或消失。10小时前因提重物而肿块又出现,伴腹痛、呕吐,肛门停止排气和排便。体检示右阴囊红肿,可见一梨状肿块,平卧后肿块不消失。本例患者最有效的治疗措施是
预警分析主要是()。
直辖市的城市总体规划报()审批。
预算会计适用于()。
ThespokesmanofJapan’s"Enlightenment"thinksthatWhichofthefollowingstatementoftheJapan’scultureistrueaccording
MoreThanaRidetoSchoolTheNationalEducationAssociationclaims,"Theschoolbusisamirrorofthecommunity."Theyf
Childrenmodelthemselveslargelyontheirparents.Theydosomainlythroughidentification.Childrenidentify【C1】______apar
最新回复
(
0
)